The Advantages of Spinal Cord Stimulation

Jeffrey Greiner, ,

Medical device developer Jeffrey Greiner currently serves as CEO of Valencia Technologies Corporation, a medical technology company that develops and manufactures neuromodulation technologies and products. Greiner takes a keen interest in the potential of neuromodulation to treat a variety of medical conditions and is especially enthusiastic about possible advances in the field of spinal cord stimulation. Greiner formerly led Advanced Bionics as its chief executive officer.

Spinal cord stimulation, a type of neuromodulation, modifies neural activity by delivering mild electrical impulses to nerves along the spinal column via implants. First used to treat back pain in 1967, the therapy was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1989 as a method of relieving neural-related pain in the torso, arms, or legs. Spinal cord stimulation currently accounts for a large percentage of all medical neuromodulation treatments.

Spinal cord stimulation appears to work in two ways: first, by reducing the number of pain signals traveling through the spine, and second, by stimulating spinal nerves to release pain-relieving chemicals. The procedure also improves circulation to the affected region. Increased oxygenation is a potential factor in reducing pain caused by ischemia.

Spinal cord stimulation has proven to be effective in treating pain. In fact, more than 60 percent of candidates who receive the treatment find their pain reduced by 50 to 70 percent, resulting in significant improvement in their quality of life.

An Overview of Phonak Binaural VoiceStream Technology™

Jeffrey Greiner, , ,

Medical device developer Jeffrey Greiner is the former CEO of Advanced Bionics, a firm which manufactures and sells cochlear implants, and is now part of Sonova, the Swiss hearing aid giant. Jeff Greiner is enthusiastic about combining the hearing aid advances of Sonova’s Phonak products along with the sophisticated signal processing of Advanced Bionics’ present technology.

Advanced Bionics’ cochlear implants now incorporate some of the most state-of-the-art technology available in the field, including the exclusive Phonak Binaural VoiceStream Technology™ and ClearVoice™, which allow implant recipients to isolate and hear speech better in noisy situations. Binaural VoiceStream Technology allows people with hearing impairments to negotiate particularly challenging situations, permitting them to hear speech on especially windy days and in noisy crowds. It enables them to focus either automatically or manually on the clearest speech source in these environments and provides more signal and thus better understanding.

The technology also gives more and better high frequency audibility and reduces feedback, reverberation and echoes. Finally, Phonak technology adaptively increases sound amplification levels in order to let new users acclimate themselves gradually to their new hearing implants until their pre-determined target is reached.

The New Generation of Cochlear Implants

Jeffrey Greiner,

Jeffrey Greiner is the chief executive officer of Valencia Technologies Corporation in Valencia, California. A veteran of the medical technology field, Greiner previously served as chief executive officer at Advanced Bionics, one of the world’s leading developers of cochlear implants.

Cochlear implants help people who are deaf hear by converting sound waves into electrical signals. These signals are sent to the brain, which perceives them as sound. Approximately 188,000 people worldwide have cochlear implants, most of which provide good enough sound quality to enable them to understand speech in quiet environments.

The newest generation of cochlear implants promises people clearer sound, delivered through innovative technological advances. One new technology, being developed by engineers at the Georgia Institute of Technology, uses a configuration of electrodes that are three times more sensitive than traditional wire electrodes, but which do not add to the overall size and weight of the electrode configuration. The researchers hope that the new technology will reduce the incidence of muffled or dampened sound and produce better sound quality overall.

Jeffrey Greiner – An Introduction to Cochlear Implants

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An accomplished medical technology executive with many years of experience in the field, Jeffrey Greiner most recently served as the chief executive officer of Advanced Bionics. In this capacity, Greiner oversaw the manufacture and sale of several neuromodulation products, including cochlear implants.

Defined as a medical device that directly stimulates the auditory nerve in the ear, cochlear implants have proven highly effective in helping deaf people hear. The devices actually act as prostheses for damaged or depleted hair cells in the inner ear.

Cochlear implants consist of two distinct pieces: the external parts and the implant. The external parts of a cochlear implant include a microphone, a processor, and a transmitter, which picks up auditory signals from the environment and transmits them to a surgically implanted receiver. The implant takes the sound signals and uses them to send a series of electrical impulses to the fibers of the auditory nerve, which then travel to the brain for processing. These man-made devices have proved quite successful for post-lingually deafened adults as well as children born deaf.

Baseball Strategy: The Hit and Run

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Jeffrey Greiner is a former executive at Advanced Bionics in Valencia, California. Prior to his time at Advanced Bionics, Jeff Greiner was a scholar athlete on the baseball team at the United States Air Force Academy. As a former collegiate baseball player, Greiner has coached Pony League baseball in Southern California. Coaches, like business executives, must understand their field deeply in order to win. For example, an aggressive baseball strategist regularly looks for an opportunity to deploy the hit and run. The hit-and-run strategy has base runners running before the pitch, with the expectation that the batter will put the ball on the ground and in play.

Because the hit and run is a situational strategy, it is easy to misuse. A hit and run should not be activated when there are two outs. The objective of the strategy is to advance the base runners, while in effect, sacrificing the batter. If a hit and run is employed with two outs, the inning will be over and no offensive benefit will be gained. A good situation for the hit and run is when there are no outs, runners on first and third, and an average hitter at the plate. A hit and run will help the offense avoid a double play, while scoring the runner on third with any hit on the ground.

The hit and run play is just one of many nuances of the game of baseball. Any baseball coach who expects to win will master this among many others. The same is true for business executives. In order to win, leaders will have to master the nuances of their particular fields of competition.